Overrated 2005

[Bennett4prez]

I'm getting a little tired of unrealistic expectations, especially this season. I know that it's early, but here is an early look at a cast of players that are bound to underachieve.

Bulger: Top 3? I don't think so...
McGahee: LT, Priest, and SA are in a league of their own. Even considering him as one of the 3 best running backs is insane.
Green: Call me a inconsiderate Vikings fan, but their team is aging and O-Line falling apart. No longer the elite player he was.
Ward: Ben Roethlisberger is not a quarterback. He is a leader that will get EVERYONE involved. This means on any given week, Staley could get more catches than Ward.
Muhammed: This one is easy. I'm a huge Mushi fan. Nothing compared to my disgust with any Bears QB.
Walker: I LOVE this kid, but I see a decline in the Packers offense and he is commonly referred to as the 6th or 7th best WR.
Shockey: Consistently considered one of the Tier 1 TEs. One word: Why?
Vinateiri: The Patriots and Vinny are still a great team. But, no longer the team that can settle for field goals and win games consistently.
Steelers DEF: Commonly looked at as the #4 defense. This year, such a thing doesn't exist. You have Baltimore and the Bills. The Patriots are 3rd. Then, there is all the other defenses, take your pick.

ENJOY!

[mtryanks12]

I agree with you Ward, Muhammad, Green, and McGahee **edit: I also forgot Javon Walker*** picks. I don't think bulger is top 3 material nor does literally anyone else at the cafe, but he is a very solid 4-5 and I don't think he is ove .

[disgruntledjetsfan]

I agree with all except for the Steelers D (which is excellent), Javon Walker (Brett Favre is still there, that's all that matters), and Vinatieri, who is the #2 kicker in my mind.

[Nilmerf]

I wish people would type both the first and last name for every player. It takes half a second! When I saw "Green" I thought of the Kansas City quarterback.. and when the description said the O-line was falling apart I was confused. Needless to say, I figured out it was Ahman.. but I'm just posting this now because it's an ongoing problem. It gets compounded whenever someone named "Johnson" or "Williams" is mentioned.

Just venting.

As for the topic. No one ever said Bulger was a top 3 QB. I don't really think he's overrated, and as a Seahawk fan I even tend to underrate him out of spite. And I think Vinatieri and the Steelers defense are both great options.

[MeShawn]

Actually, I did see one or two people rank Bulger in their top 3. But after compiling almost 30 rankings so far (in the ODotW thread), he is averaged to be the #5 QB. Some have him higher, some lower. Hell, on some lists, he didn't even crack the top 10.

McGahee is a mystery. You're going to have a lot of guys strongly disagree with you, and strongly agree with you. Unfortunately, I'm one of those guys against your opinion. LT and SA make up the first tier. After that, we know Priest can be a 27 TD guy, but health is a MAJOR concern. I'd also consider Edge in that 2nd tier, right above McGahee. McGahee's injury is completely healed. True, there is a chance of injury, but in my eyes, it's no more than any other RB. He has a young QB (not necessarily good, but not terrible) and has a strong WR corps in Moulds and Lee Evans so oposing defenses CAN'T stack 8 in the box. He's a young work horse back, who can only get better. Top 4 RB, easily (Behind LT, SA, Edge...ahead of Priest).

Ahman and Walker. Well, Farve is back and has shown no signs of decline. The Pack will be the same old packers offense for at least another year or two. Ahman will AT LEAST repeat last year's numbers while Walker will probably repeat also (maybe even go up). The Packers are still one of the premier offenses in the league, as long as Farve is playing. Farve, Ahman, Walker, Driver, and Bubba is certainly not elite, but still very solid.

Vinateri is as consistant as they come. Kickers are a crapshoot, so it'd be VERY difficult to say he'll be a repeat #1 kicker next year. Top 5, definately.

I like the Shockey call, but maybe I'm a homer. I just can't stand that guy.

[Free Bagel]

Bulger: Top 3? I don't think so...

Not sure where you're getting this, I haven't seen anyone say Bulger was top 3.

Green: Call me a inconsiderate Vikings fan, but their team is aging and O-Line falling apart. No longer the elite player he was.

Not sure if you noticed or not, but Ahman's not being drafted as the elite player he was either (formerly a consensus top 5 and even top 3 pick). He's been going late 1st, even early 2nd in some leagues/mocks. I actually think he's fairly good value if you can get him way back there.

Ward: Ben Roethlisberger is not a quarterback. He is a leader that will get EVERYONE involved. This means on any given week, Staley could get more catches than Ward.

I'm torn on this one. On one hand, again he's fallen a good bit in the draft, to about the middle of the 4th compared to early 3rd last year, so that helps. Though he may not even be a middle 4th round WR after what I saw of him with Roeth last year, he could be a steal or a bust, certainly not what you typically expect out of Ward, which is consistency.

Walker: I LOVE this kid, but I see a decline in the Packers offense and he is commonly referred to as the 6th or 7th best WR.

Agreed. Throw in his boom or bust play by play style and he's scary as an early 3rd type guy. Seems like this guy will go scoreless for three quarters and then rack up 150yds and 2 TD's on the next three possessions. What happens if he doesn't have that monster 7-minute span for a couple weeks?

Shockey: Consistently considered one of the Tier 1 TEs. One word: Why?

Gonna have to go the opposite way here. Shockey is a guy who's been overrated his entire career, until this year. This year he's being drafted as a middle of the pack TE, so his value isn't top 4 rounds like it used to be, and I dunno if I'm the only one who got lots of Giants game on TV, but it seemed like EVERY TIME Eli dropped back to throw he was staring down Shockey. I actuallys expect him to have great value this year based on where he's being drafted.

Vinateiri: The Patriots and Vinny are still a great team. But, no longer the team that can settle for field goals and win games consistently.

I think this one has less to do with Vinateiri as a player and more to do with him being a kicker. I practically wrote a dissertation last offseason about how ridiculously inconsistent from year to year kickers are, and that year just like every year the last decade people spent early picks on the top kickers (Wilkins and Vandy) and they didn't even crack the top 10 in kicker scoring. It will happen again this year. People will draft Vinateiri in the top 8 rounds just like they've done with the top kicker the last 5 years as I repeatedly showed them the reasons not to, and again we'll see a huge dropoff in said top kicker's numbers. WHEN ARE PEOPLE GOING TO LEARN.

Steelers DEF: Commonly looked at as the #4 defense. This year, such a thing doesn't exist. You have Baltimore and the Bills. The Patriots are 3rd. Then, there is all the other defenses, take your pick.

Agreed. Once you get past the top couple D's the rest of them get thrust into a tossup. Not to the extent of kickers but a tossup nonetheless. Anyone remember where Pitt finished the last time they went into a season with a top 5 ranked fantasy D? Not in the top 20 if I can recall.

[SwiperNoSwiping]

Out of all those, I agree with Muhammad there the most. McGahee possibly, but not that much. I think he will put up good numbers. Possibly just not what is being forecasted for him as being anywhere from the 2nd to 5th player selected.

I actually like Walker and Green's prospects this year. Favre isn't going anywhere anytime soon I don't think. He could have 3 yrs left for all we know.

[cruiz03]

Man, the Steelers are top 3-5. Willis will be interesting, I'm just not there yet.... big risk, big reward.

[IRON CHEF]

Bulger- I have seen few people rank Bulger at 3, so I think you are getting the wrong impression here. Since Martz has been endorsing a pass-heavy offense for years and there are weapons around him Bulger is about the 5th or 6th best QB.

McGahee- Firstly I don't agree with the 3 RBs you feel are in the upper tier. Because of his age its hard to consider Priest to be a definite top RB. Willis has loads of talent, it isn't ridiculous at all to believe that he can be a top RB. Yes, there is undoubtedly a risk along with him, but the reward could turn out to be huge.

Green- Once again I think you have the wrong idea of where he is being looked at. I, like you, am not particularly high on Green, but I think that most have come to realize that he is no longer elite.

Ward- The jury is still out for Ward, he has a great work ethic and the skill to put up stats year after year, but we have yet to see how the absence of Plax effects him. More importantly is the question of if Randle El can at least make defenses acknowledge his presence.

Muhammed- I'm very low on Muhammed, I don't see him coming anywhere near last year's totals.

Walker- Another player I agree with you on...

Shockey- Right now I don't think he is overrated or underrated, a middle tier TE is right about where Shockey stands right now.

Vinatieri- Couldn't agree more, his clutch field goals have corrupted the minds of everyone.

Steelers DEF- I think they'll be solid once again, but its hard to determine the value of defenses from year to year.

[Vikes Rule 88]

welcome back B4P